Hunter Ferris
Isaac Davison
UNION CITY, Ind. – Defensive execution was the difference for the Union City boys basketball team on Friday night.
“I think our guys did a great job of executing our defensive game plan,” Union City Head Coach Dustin Baldwin said.
The end result for the Indians was a 44-30 Tri-Eastern Conference victory over Lincoln.
“The big thing is we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Lincoln Head Coach Rodney Klein said.
“When you don’t shoot well you’re going to look bad on defense and offense,” Klein added. “We had nobody in double figures.”
Hunter Ferris led the Golden Eagles with nine points and Ben Bertsch tossed in eight. Garrett Pumphrey finished with one basket.
“Garrett had two points,” Klein said. “Credit Union City. They did a nice job of running two or three guys at him.”
“We had some open looks,” Klein continued. “We were 1-of-11 in the paint. We’ve got to be better.”
And that was the plan for the Indians.
“Our big guys did a good job of teaming up and stopping Pumphrey,” Baldwin said of the 6-8 sophomore, who did have six blocked shots. “He’s definitely a force down there.”
On the other side of the ledger, the Indians had three players in double digits led was Isaac Davison, who had a game-high 20 points to go with eight rebounds.
“Our intensity on defense led to him getting some fast-break points,” Baldwin said. “We need that. We need him to step up every night.”
A dozen of Davison’s points came in the second quarter as Union City built a 28-12 halftime advantage over Lincoln.
“The Davison kid was a monster,” Klein said. He was a one-man wrecking crew.”
Bailey Hughes had 12 points and Tyler Thornhill added 10.
Lincoln mounted a comeback effort in the third period by outscoring the Union City 10-5, but their offensive woes hurt as the Golden Eagles trailed 33-22 at the end of the period.
“We stopped them four straight possessions,” Klein said. “We either turned it over or missed a shot. We had our chances.”
In the end, Union City’s free throws put the game away as the Indians hit 7-of-9 in the final frame.
“We wanted to make them come and get us,” Baldwin said. “Overall, we controlled the ball and wasted some time and we got to the free throw line.”
The Indians won the JV contest 49-38. Kyler Purdin had 10 points for Union City and Jacob Fulk added nine. James Pugh led the Golden Eagles with eight points as Austin Wampler finished with seven.
Union City (7-5, 1-2) is at Wapahani on Saturday, while Lincoln (7-6, 1-2) entertains Cowan.
Box Score
LINCOLN (7-6, 1-2) – Ben Bertsch 4 0-0 8, Caleb Craig 1 0-0 3, Chase Southerland 0 6-6 6, Hunter Ferris 4 1-4 9, Garrett Pumphrey 1 0-0 2, Nick Cupp 1 0-0 2, Luke Isaacs 0 0-0 0. Team – 11 7-10 30.
UNION CITY (7-5, 1-2) – Isaac Davison 7 5-5 20, Trevor Thompson 0 0-0 0, Tyler Thornhill 4 1-2 10, Isaac Jefferis 0 0-1 0, Trevor Spence 1 0-0 2, Aaron Foster 0 0-0 0, Bailey Hughes 5 2-2 12, Gabe Loesch 0 0-0 0. Team – 17 8-10 44.
Lincoln 4 12 22 30
Union City 10 28 33 44
3-pointers – Lincoln 1 (Craig 1), Union City 2 (Davison 1, Thornhill 1). Rebounds – Lincoln 21 (Pumphrey 6), Union City 30 (Davison 8). Turnovers – Lincoln 14, Union City 14. Fouls – Lincoln 14, Union City 12.